Chapter 401

“Ugh… ugh…”

The Pope groaned in disbelief.

“Th-this can’t be…!”

He raised his trembling hand, but that was the last thing he did.

From his cracked body, the instrument of Gehenna began to seep out, swallowing the Pope whole.

“Gyaaaaaaah!!!”

A roaring blaze erupted.

The instrument transformed into the flames of hell’s karmic fire, engulfing the Pope’s body.

It was the end of the demon contractor.

What was even more horrifying was the reaction of the archdemons who had descended.

They were enjoying it.

Though the Pope had been their loyal slave, they paid no mind to that and instead reveled in his suffering.

“He’ll endure endless torment in Gehenna. Foolish demon worshippers, all of them.”

Chris clicked his tongue.

“…So, it’s over?”

But a foreboding feeling gnawed at him.

This didn’t feel like the end.

The archdemons still hadn’t returned to Gehenna—that was proof enough.

“Why aren’t they going back?”

Chris furrowed his brow.

Normally, the moment the summoner—the Pope—was destroyed, the archdemons should have vanished as well.

Yet they remained, their terrible eyes surveying the surface world.

As if waiting for something.

Then, something unexpected happened.

A brilliant light tore through the sky, and a sacred mist began to spread.

“…The celestial nebula?”

Chris’s face twisted in confusion.

It was the celestial realm’s erosion phenomenon.

But why now?

Within the sublime mist, dazzling stars flickered.

They were giant stars—celestial bodies equivalent in rank to the archdemons.

What was even stranger was that the archdemons still remained in their descended state.

Celestial giants and archdemons gathered in one place?

“All conditions have been met.”

Was it the giants’ doing, or the archdemons’?

A majestic spiritual energy that weighed down both body and soul echoed through the air.

“The sacrifice, carried over from the previous cycle, is complete. The time has come.”

“!!”

Chris flinched.

All the giants and archdemons turned their gaze toward him.

“What do they mean? A sacrifice carried over from a previous cycle?”

Instinctively, he realized that “previous cycle” referred to his past life.

“What are you saying?”

A voice echoed, audible only to Chris.

“You are the prepared sacrifice. From the previous cycle onward. Everything, including your reincarnation, was for this purpose.”

Chris’s face twisted in disbelief.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

The boundaries between the three realms had not collapsed.

Even if they were giants and archdemons, they couldn’t easily harm him.

He scoffed, about to make a rude gesture.

But then his complexion turned pale and frozen.

He couldn’t move. Not even a finger.

He tried to summon his energy, but it was the same.

“…Why?”

It wasn’t a trick.

He simply couldn’t move.

For reasons unknown.

“It’s useless. You were marked as the sacrifice not only from the previous cycle but from the distant past—since the Starblood first settled in Argen.”

Argen.

Chris’s previous life’s royal family in the Law Kingdom.

A lineage marked by the Starblood, the bloodline of the constellations, which allowed Chris and Olivia to wield some of the constellations’ power.

“Have you never thought your existence was unnatural?”

“…What nonsense is this?”

He growled in protest, but something nagged at him.

He was excessively gifted.

His talents far exceeded what could be called human.

“We giants bestowed the Starblood upon humans so that beings transcending human potential might be born. Though rare, after countless years, you were born.”

“!!”

“We have waited a very long time for you—the perfect sacrifice.”

Chris’s fingertips trembled.

“…Then what about the Demon King of the Blood Cycle from my previous life?”

“The Demon King of the Blood Cycle was merely a trial to help you grow. But in the previous cycle, you failed to become perfect as expected.”

“…Then why was I reincarnated?”

“To make you the perfect sacrifice.”

Only then did Chris grasp the full truth.

The chaos in both his previous and current lives was all a scheme to awaken him.

A grand conspiracy involving the celestial realm, Gehenna, and even the Demon King.

“…What’s your goal? Ascension?”

“Yes. Now that you have become the perfect sacrifice, we will open a new world and ascend to the true great ranks—the First and Second Realms.”

The First and Second Realms.

Beings equivalent to the world itself.

“Now that you have been reborn as the perfect sacrifice, all preparations for the apocalypse are complete.”

A brilliant light tore through the sky, revealing the celestial realm and Gehenna beyond.

Terrible evil and radiant light merged as they shone down on Chris.

They intended to make him their sacrifice.

“Damn it! I’m not going down without a fight!”

He struggled to break free, but it was impossible.

“Your fate as the sacrifice was sealed from birth. You cannot resist.”

Those words were true.

A hopeless situation.

“Surrender to your fate.”

His consciousness began to fade helplessly.

From afar, he faintly heard Nordian, Idrinne, and others calling him, but even those voices soon drifted away.

“…Is this really the end? No way!”

He snapped his eyes open.

“What fate? Get lost!”

They claimed to have completed Chris’s existence, but they overlooked what kind of monster he truly was.

“I never agreed to be a sacrifice. No matter how much it’s etched in my blood, this contract is invalid.”

Unless they were beings of the First or Second Realm, they couldn’t escape causality.

There had to be a loophole in the contract.

“A contract imprinted in my blood from birth. But it lacks justification. I never consented.”

The giants and archdemons were forcing their will with overwhelming power.

“Damn it. But I don’t have the strength to overturn this contract.”

He had the justification on his side, so the world’s causality should favor him.

The problem was their power was overwhelmingly superior.

Even at his peak, his strength was like a mere insect compared to the archdemons and giants.

“Overcoming this by force is impossible. Unless I can somehow weaken the contract’s justification.”

Then, a low voice spoke.

“I will… help you. Surrender your soul to me.”

Mephina!

“…Even now, you’re willing?”

“No… it’s not for my greed. If you give me your soul, I can use that as justification to nullify the contract imprinted in your bloodline.”

Mephina urged him anxiously.

“Hurry… there’s no time. You can’t keep resisting.”

Chris remained silent.

“Damn it. What should I do?”

He couldn’t trust Mephina.

But he had no other choice.

“Why do you want to make me your subordinate?”

“Because you are the only hope to stop the apocalypse.”

“Enough with the vague talk. What do you really want?”

Mephina fell silent for a moment.

“I want to escape this exile—the Seventh Realm—and reclaim my original position in the Third Realm.”

“…Are there many archdemons like you in the Seventh Realm?”

“Not just archdemons. Even the celestial giants. All of them opposed this apocalypse plan but were betrayed and cast down by treacherous schemes.”

“Then why don’t you all unite your strength to stop the apocalypse?”

Chris asked, puzzled.

As he had learned from the ‘Devourer of Light’ in the Fourth Realm, many great beings opposed the apocalypse.

“We are sealed and powerless to intervene.”

“Is there no way to break the seal?”

“Not now. Perhaps when you reach the Tenth Star in the future.”

Chris fell silent.

One thought crossed his mind.

“If I can use this information well, maybe I can stop the celestial realm and Gehenna.”

But that was a distant hope.

For now, he had to survive this brush with death.

“Hurry… surrender your soul to me. There’s no time!”

Just as Chris bit his lip, about to make his choice, an unexpected voice rang out.

“Wait. Stop.”

It was distant.

Yet unforgettable.

“I will bear this contract in your place.”

Chris’s eyes widened in shock.

“…Rena?”

Had she appeared out of nowhere?

The dark chatterbox!

Rena looked at him with a wistful gaze.

“…It’s been a while. Hehe, how have you been?”

Her voice and tone were just as in his previous life.

He wanted to grab her hand immediately, but his body was bound, unable to move.

“Rena, how did you get here?”

“There’s no time for a long story. I will take on the burden of your unfair contract.”

“…What?”

“That’s why I returned from my previous life.”

Rena smiled faintly.

“Remember your past life? I fell into Gehenna as a price for using forbidden demon arts, and I learned of your fate. Later, I met the Mage Chancellor who came to Gehenna by chance, and I made a contract with him to take over your unjust destiny. Since it was an unfair contract from the start, the Mage Chancellor’s power allowed me to infiltrate it.”

Rena’s story was finally revealed.

But it was a tale Chris could never accept.

“What?! I will never accept this!”

Rena was offering to become the sacrifice in his place.

She would be destroyed, erased forever.

“I’m sorry. All measures are already in place. Even you can’t stop it.”

Rena’s hand touched Chris’s face.

“I’m really… sorry. I wanted to chat all night like before. But still, it’s good to see you again. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Rena!! Stop!!!”

But Rena turned her back and walked away.

“I have one last warning for you. Watch out for the Demon Chancellor. The true mastermind behind all this isn’t Gehenna, the Celestial Realm, or the Demon King—it’s the Demon Chancellor.”

Those words hung heavily in the air.

There was no time to ponder them leisurely.

Suddenly—flash!

A brilliant light burst forth from Lena’s body.

At the same moment, Chris felt the bindings around him begin to loosen.

The contract etched into his veins was weakening.

But the backlash was hitting Lena hard.

“Ugh!”

She coughed up blood violently.

“No, don’t!”

Chris grabbed her trembling form.

Her body was growing cold.

Soon, she would vanish—soul and all.

I won’t let you die. Not like this. Never.

But there was no way to save her.

Chris’s eyes burned with fury.

Damn those Celestials and Gehenna bastards. I will never forgive them.

Then, a sudden thought struck him.

A way to save Lena—and to bring down those wretched Celestials and Gehenna.

It was a reckless gamble, utterly insane—but he didn’t care.

“Mephina, I want to make a deal.”

—A deal?

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not pledging myself to you. This is strictly a transaction.”

—…Speak then.

“Use your power to stop Lena’s disappearance.”

—I can’t… I can’t do that on my own.

“I have a way.”

Chris revealed an unexpected plan.